The blogroll here at the Cavern has been down for a while, for what TV Network execs would call “re-tooling”. No, I’m not writing in an evil twin or a cute nephew to boost ratings, but I do have to make some changes.
A few of the great stalwart bloggers woke up and realized that we’re living with an economy that almost qualifies us as a third-world country, and had to put blogging on hold in favor of activities more suited to ensuring they would be able to keep their homes and feed their families.
A few others simply moved on to other endeavors, like becoming World of Warcraft addicts or - in a few, very rare cases - getting laid.
And - I’m not going to name names, but I’m not going to sugarcoat it either - a few of my colleagues in the comic-blog game turned into gigantic douchebags.
All of these issues combined meant that I couldn’t just make a few changes to the old blogroll on the fly - this was too big for that. I had to take it down and start from scratch.; remove about 60% of my links, add some new ones from some great blogs I’ve recently discovered, and now, the fun part: discover even more cool blogs to link to, finish my list, and put my blogroll back up.
So, I’m on the lookout: it seems every time I go online I’m finding some great new comics blog or website I’ve never noticed, or just-launched sites that are making the comics web a better place. I’m opening my doors, and sending out an open invite: put yourself on my blogroll! I want people to come to Comics Cavern, and find a big fat list of great comics resources all over the Internet, including yours.
I’m not asking for reciprocity, although if you want to put me on your ‘roll then of course that’s just super. If not, that’s cool. The only thing I ask is that you don’t tell me you’re putting me on your blogroll because you’re excited for a link, and then not do it. That’s douchebag behavior. That’s one of the reasons I took my blogroll down in the first place.
So come on all you bloggers and webmasters, you web comics you print publishers large and small, you online comic shops and you wiki people - I’m sorry I don’t know what technical term you use to describe yourselves, but I love your wikis - whatever you’re doing on the web that has to do with comics, please send me a link and, if you’d be so kind, a short (one or two sentences is fine) description of what you’ve got going on, so I can promote you on Comics Cavern.
Either send me an e-mail, or just leave a comment. It’s the social web, people - let’s get social!
I have a great time rambling about comics, cartoons, pop culture, and myself - but another thing I love about this blog is checking out the search queries that deliver you lovable readers to the Cavern.
It’s totally anonymous, I don’t know who is Googling “full frontal Ghost Rider”, unless they e-mail me or leave comments claiming credit. But it’s fun to see the weird things we’re searching for, and wondering why Google or Bing or whoever decides to rank my site highly for the bizarre queries.
I had a couple of fun ones on October 14, so on the 15th I started polling to pick an audience favorite. Well, the polls are closed, the results are in.
Congratulations, “boob comic” searcher! You took two-thirds of the vote, beating out “power girl headless” and winning Best Search Query.
If the searcher(s) for boob comics would like to take credit and have their names (or online tags) mentioned, along with the prize of a free plug for their blogs, webcasts, or what have you (click here for guidelines), they can either send me an e-mail or just leave a comment.
If, however, they prefer superhero-like anonymity, searching for weird crap on the Web from the rooftops and the shadows, I respect that too.
In other weird search news, look what’s making a comeback:
Seriously, is there some picture or something featuring Teen Titans wedgies floating around on the Web? If so, would someone please send me a link?
For those of you searching the Cavern in vain for Wonder Girl whale tail, I hope this god-on-god superwedgie, delivered by Thorcules to Hercuthor, is an acceptable consolation prize.
The super-slick new Amazon Kindle, the e-reader everybody has been drooling over, is finally here. You might want to stop drooling now, you don’t want to get saliva on your sweet new magic reading machine.
The new model Kindle really is a thing of beauty, as you can see in the photo. You can see videos, and get full specs, including lots of new features, over at Amazon.
One feature that I’ve always liked abut the Kindle, that separates it from all other e-readers, is it’s ability to sign up for subscriptions; newspapers, magazines - and blogs!
You see where I’m going with this, right? I don’t need to do the whole P.T. Barnum “step right up” shtick, do I?
That’s right, one of the sexy new features of the Kindle is the ability to subscribe to Comics Cavern! it’s a different experience than reading it on the website, or via RSS, for a lot of reasons - not the least of which being the Kindle won’t let you browse the web or read RSS feeds! Seriously, as a writer it feels pretty cool to have my content available on the most bad-ass e-reader I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I hope you Kindlers who enjoy reading my musings on comic typos and demon loincloths on the web will enjoy it just as much on the Kindle.
And, as Jamie Lee Curtis said, it’s much more convenient when you only have one device in your pants, so I hope you guys and gals subscribe to Comics Cavern on Kindle!
* Great big thanks to Marvel Smart Ass for providing the image above, in addition to loads of other great promos for the Cavern. Check out his his blog, it’s so funny you’ll pee your pants. So, maybe you should take your Kindle out of your pocket first.
I’m not one of those bloggers who obsesses over “analytics”, the study of who our readers are and how we got them, but I do pay some attention. A guy wants to get a gauge of who his readers are and why - for instance, if 80 percent of my readers were only reading my posts about Moon Knight, I’d realize that my Moon Knight coverage is something people rely on me for, and I might focus a little less on Power Girl’s woman-parts and a little more on Moon Knight’s spiffy new gear for the foreseeable future.
Mostly, though, I get a kick out of seeing what sorts of search queries people use to find Comics Cavern via Google, or Bing, or Technorati or whatever. It can provide a real insight into the weirder side of people, and it comforts me knowing that I’m not the only one searching the web for the eclectic and bizarre.
Every now and then I get such great search queries that I’m inclined to award the weirdest ones - I recently handed out the first-ever award for Comics Cavern Search Query of the Day, and I think it’s time to give out the second such award. This time, though, you get to vote.
Here are the nominees for Search Query of the Day, October 14, 2009.
So let’s see those votes! Once enough of you make your voices heard, I’ll announce the winner, and the searcher will have the opportunity to step forward and claim the prize.
Admittedly, it’s not a huge prize - you get to plug yourself, your blog, and anything else you like, that isn’t over-the-top tasteless, hateful, or otherwise vile.
Now, pick your favorite goofy search, and let the wheels of democracy turn!
We bloggers love determining how we attract readers to our sites - are we getting word-of-mouth traffic? Perhaps we’re ranking high in blog directories, or showing up in Google searches, or our buddies are linking to us from their blogs, or Tweets, or Facebook pages? Why do we care so much? Well, for one thing, we’re generally a neurotic and insecure group, and we need constant validation and love. It’s also a good way to tell if you’re doing something on your blog that readers are responding to, positively or negatively.
As for me, I mostly enjoy reading funny search queries and wondering: 1) who is searching for these phrases, and 2) why are Google, Bing and the rest causing Comics Cavern to show up in search results? It’s a hobby, and this blog gets discovered by at least one amusing search query almost every day. Last month, I got about 20 hits from people searching for “tighty whities“.
I have so much fun with this that I figured I’d start sharing some of these searches with you guys. Don’t worry, your privacy is 100% guaranteed - I am not provided with any information regarding who is doing the searching, where they’re from, or anything. And even if I did have access to your private information, I promise I would never ever abuse your trust by sharing it.
Unlike Facebook.
So let me debut this fun new feature, a glimpse into the mind of the weird (and aren’t we all? - lord knows I’ve been known to make some pretty interesting searches) - with the inaugural Comics Cavern Search of the Day! Our first winner is… “Teen Titans wedgies“!
Congratulations to the person or people who searched for metahuman butt-floss. If you would like to step forward and receive credit as the winning searcher, you can send me an e-mail ([email protected]), and I’ll let you post your name, and if you have a blog or something you want to plug you can do so, within reason. There are no strict guidelines, just nothing hateful or violent.
Food for thought: was this a search for a hot shot of Wonder Girl needing to give her spandex some breathing room, or of Ravager hazing one of the new kids with the ancient initiation rite of the underwear yank? The world may never know.
I’m hoping to see some searches for Justice Society swirlies soon!
Ego trips are the stupidest thing on the planet. That’s if you’re actually some sort of semi-accomplished celebrity, with enough fans and paparazzi up your ass to even give you cause to have an ego trip. The second you buy into your own hype, you are destined to live the rest of your life one just one misstep - one out-of-date fad, one out-of-context quote, one bad review, one messed-up lip-synch performance - from a lifetime spent as a punchline. You don’t recover from that.
You go from this:
To this…
So fast that it will make your head spin.
But when you are a comics fan, whose hobbies include reading comics and blogging about said comics - and THAT gives you an ego trip - that makes you the sorriest ass to ever crawl the earth. Leif Garrett laughs at you. I’m referring to a VERY select few here - if you have to ask yourself if I’m talking about you, I’m not talking about you. I have, however, noticed for the first time, a very small group of my “peers” deciding that their ReTweet and link aggregator pages - hardly even blogs, by definition - have made them rock stars. I suppose it’s preferable think of yourself as a star as opposed to an obnoxious, delusional and pathetic loser - and we comics fans are experts at escapism, so we’re well practiced at the art of make-believe.
You’re as ugly on the inside as Barry Allen, right after Big Sir smashed his face into so much Speed Force pudding. You’re also ugly on the outside. Rethink your life. It’s sad.
I believe it was Mahatma Gandhi who said “The secret to inner serenity and oneness with the world is simple - don’t be a dick.” He may not have used those exact words, but he certainly lived by them, and it’s sad when people who participate in “social media” of all things, lose the path. Oh well. Maybe I’m mistaken. Maybe I’m not mistaken, but the aforementioned peers will come around. Or maybe they’ll just f**k off, and I’ll be secure in the knowledge that I said my peace. Whatever.
Now for the cool stuff - I haven’t mentioned this before, but you should really take a second and check out comicscavern.com on your iPhone, iPod Touch, Google Phone, or whatever the hell that thing is in your pocket. Comics Cavern is super-optimized for handhelds and phones and the like - you wouldn’t think so, what with all the bells and whistles that show up on the full-sized web version of the site, but trust me: load it on your mobile (you don’t have to muck about with settings or whatever - it automatically loads the optimized mobile page).
All modesty aside, the iPhone-etc optimized Comics Cavern is sexy as hell. If you’re out on a date with a chick who likes smartphones and comics - trust me, loading up the old Cavern on your phone is the equivalent of 10 scented candles, oysters for dinner, and taking her shoe-shopping. You, my friend, are gonna score.
A tip of the hat, and a great big “thanks” to the terrific new blog Marvel Smart Ass, who in addition to providing some awesome humor and design to this comics blog world of ours, made me this supercool Twitter badge!
Look at little Archangel - he looks so welcoming, as opposed to scary deformed. We should all be so lucky.
Those of you who have been following my blogging exploits for a while know that I’ve had some issues with the tendons in my hands for some time now. Well, it’s gotten much worse since the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum - these days I look like the cover illo for “What If “Lady Deathstrike Were an Unattractive Man?”
I’d like a Twitter badge that puts a positive spin on that! Or some surgery.
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